One of the last letters my dad sent he said: I am very envious of your fall weather and the change of scenery. The sun comes up at 6:30 and it goes down at 6:30 every day. The temperature goes up to 108 every day, day after day. The only thing more consistent is either the power or the internet going out (which is did half through his letter and we received half one day and half another day).
Little did he realize that he would be home in a month to experience that fall-like weather. They came home five days shy of a year for medical reasons that we will find out more about tomorrow. Mom wanted to stay and let him come home and get things taken care of, but that wasn't allowed so they are both here. I'm sure this will test my dad's patience like none other. He has never been one to feel comfortable in other people's homes, even his own family. So the fact that they may be hanging out for a month before heading back is something to certainly test him.
We skipped out on mutual Wednesday night and headed to Angie's to visit, although I think Dad would rather just crash somewhere than chat. But he insisted I bring the kids out, so we obliged.
It was great to listen to their experiences and to be grateful for the conveniences we enjoy without much thought like hot showers, good drinking water, washers, dryers, fresh food.
This week I have been thinking and memorizing a scripture found in Isaiah 55:8-9 that says the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are his ways are ways. Sometimes we don't always understand why things happen. I don't understand why God just wouldn't stay the medical issue my dad has so they could finish the last six months. I don't have answers for those questions, but I do have faith that one day I will. That is trusting in an all-knowing God.
And for now we will enjoy having them around.
Missionary Letter from Grandpa to Kiersten, Erik, and Nate
Let me share a fun missionary experience with you guys, since it won't be long until you're in my shoes. The guy in the first picture is drunk out of his mind, can you tell by his eyes?
The first time I met him I instantly liked him because he had a good spirit and he was very nice to me when he let me through the gate to go fishing. Then I found out he had been fired from his job for drinking and that's when he started coming around the house and knocking on the door at 11pm at night, always wasted. His breath was so bad that I talked to him with my finger under my nose. I would finally send him home (he lives just across the street) and he would disappear and then reappear the next day, always drunk.
I decided to have him help me fill in the potholes along the main road with some gravel and pay his wife if he would help. The first day I did all the work and he would stand in the middle of the road and flag down people and tell them the LDS Church was fixing the roads and that he was the foreman. It was hilarious. He could hardly stand up but he was very friendly with a lot of people.
The second day he was so plastered that he went over to the side of the road and laid down under a coconut tree and went to sleep after only 25 minutes on the job. One day I told his wife that Jesus was going to fix her husband. The plan was to have the branch president (a cop) arrest him and put him in the drunk tank until he was sober. Then I went to Fanning Island for 9 days. When I returned, he was not in jail, he was in the hospital. He was so continually drunk that he was having liver failure and was about to die. I visited him in the hospital and at home and just simply befriended him.
You have to be genuinely interested in them and sometimes go and get dirty where they are and actually care about them before you start waiving pamphlets and Books of Mormon at them. That part will come naturally. This other buddy across the street and I decided to take him fishing so yesterday we rented this boat and hauled him with us.
The picture above is a bunch of dolphins who came racing over to play. These things are a gas. They try to show you all the tricks they can do.
I prayed all day long that Etuati would catch some fish but it was slow. Then after 6 hours everything went crazy. The picture below is the sailfish just coming out of the water. If you think Lake Powell is fun, try this sometime.
The picture below says everything. It's not about the sailfish. It's about the change that happens when Christ and the Holy Ghost come into a person's life. Notice the change of his countenance. Isn't the change amazing between picture #1 and #4-5? He came to church last Sunday and he's coming tomorrow with his friends.
Then in picture #5 he hooked into the biggest wahoo I have seen so far. Thirty minutes to get this thing in the boat and he was exhausted. I asked if he wanted to fish on the way back and he did. Five minutes later the water exploded again but the fight only lasted 30 or 40 seconds. This fish, whatever it was, sliced the line above the leader. My prayer was answered. Etuati had a great time and brought home a lot of fish for the family. My buddy Timei said to me today, "We caught the big fish yesterday. Etuati was the big fish."
Grandpa
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